haters don’t gotta hate

 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in Heaven.”

Jesus spoke in Spiritual Truths. What he said about loving our enemies is not a rule. It is a Spiritual Truth. Hatred for anyone, no matter how much their despicable actions make them deserving of it, darkens our souls – not theirs.

Squirrels are a problem for landlines. Squirrels are rodents, Their teeth grow continuously, so they need to gnaw tough material to maintain their tooth length. If the phone line to one’s home is under “squirrel-attack”, intermittent static builds to a point where callers can’t be heard over the interference. Finally, the line goes dead.

Hatred gnaws at our souls, causing static interference between us and God. It blinds us to Spiritual possibilities, limits God’s Work through us, depletes our Spiritual Energy, and ultimately interrupts our God-Connection.

evil is not diminished by hatred because hatred is evil’s purview. By allowing hatred to seep into our hearts, we unwittingly play into evil’s hands. At the very least, we become impotent against its advances. evil is extinguished by Love just as flipping a light switch vanquishes darkness.

Most of us see ourselves as pretty nice people. We don’t harbor any hatred against personal enemies. But what about our loathing for an unreasonable, demanding boss or an annoying coworker? Or hatred for certain political leaders? Or for people who voted for a certain political leader? What about hatred for people who demand compliance with a health safeguard? Or hatred for people who refuse to comply? What about hatred for people who have victimized others – especially children? What about hatred for the wealthy, who seem to hoard their riches? Or hatred for the poor – bothersome panhandlers who don’t seem to want to help themselves. What about hatred for a confused 17-year-old child who took the lives of two others – whether justified or unjustified?

We shake our heads with doubt that we could ever see this or that person with love and compassion. Maybe it’s someone we have spent years hating. Some of our incredulity at ever loving certain people springs from not wanting to let go of the hatred because we have allowed the hatred to define who we are and guide our actions. Maybe our hatred unites us with a community of like-minded people, who have come together against a common enemy. We fear that giving up our hatred will isolate us from our compatriots.

Loving our enemy is contrary to our human nature, but it is not contrary to our God-Nature, which is strengthened by the Gift of the Holy Spirit… if we get out of the way.

Divine Love manifested in us is beyond our human capacity to attain. Sympathy for a despicable person based upon their backstory only gets us so far. Divine Love goes far beyond human reason.

We need to do some deep soul searching and allow the Holy Spirit to bring to our attention these hidden pockets of hatred in our hearts, so we can be released from all darkness. Only then can we Collaborate with God to defeat evil.